Memoirs of a Pokemon Master CHAPTER 24 Justice is a dish best served cold

"We got him." - Trey LaJaunie

Indigo Plateau loomed before us. Alexia and I stood at the entrance to Pokemon League
HQ shortly after we called back our flying pokemon. We walked into the building and were
immediately ushered into a conference room. The Elite Four, Boulder, Lt. Surge, Giovanni,
Nurse Joy, and a few police officers, including Officer Jenny, were there. Lance motioned for us
to take a seat. Lance moved to the front of the room and stood in front of a podium.

"It has come to our attention that we have not dealt with the pokemon murderers, Lilly and Kirby,
formerly of Team Rocket." Lance said. "They have killed a pokemon, impersonated junior
trainers, interrupted the Ultra Ball competition and have caused much chaos in the trainer's
community. They need to be captured and put away before they cause any more damage."

The people around us began to murmur in agreement. Everyone quieted down when Lance
started talking again.

"As it is, no one knows where they are at this moment. But we do have with us the only trainer
that has been able to stop them in more ways than one." Lance said. Everyone looked at me.
"Trey, I would like to ask you to lead this man hunt."

Lance motioned for me to stand at the podium. As I walked up, Giovanni handed me a notebook.

"This is everything about them. Home towns, phone numbers, bios, everything." He said.

I opened the notebook, flipped through a few pages and closed it. I noticed it had a large red R
on it. I looked at the people in the room. Alexia smiled at me. I looked down and saw that
raichu had sat down next to me. I looked back to the people.

"Okay. I've been thinking about this for awhile. We should be able to keep them out of the cities
if the police would patrol the streets. That would leave forest paths, Sea Foam Islands, and the
Safari Zone. If we notify all trainers about the man hunt, Lilly and Kirby would surely find out
and then they would most definitely try to take refuge in the Safari Zone or Sea Foam. Once we
get them in the Safari Zone or Sea Foam, then we just comb the area and flush them out. It seems
more logical that they would try for the Safari Zone first." I said. I looked around and there were
murmurs of agreement.

"Couldn't have planned it better myself." Lance stated.

"I'll notify the police forces in the other cities to start patrolling." Officer Jenny said.

Soon the plan was put into action. All the trainers from around the world were notified about the
man hunt for Lilly and Kirby. Soon reports from all around our continent flooded police stations
with sightings of Lilly and Kirby. Once a lot of reports came from Fuchsia, Alexia and I flew
down to the Safari Zone, and with the help of the Fuchsia police force, we combed the Safari
Zone. Since the Safari Zone was a fenced in enclosure, Lilly and Kirby would have nowhere to
run. We all split off into groups. Alexia and I went one way and the rest of the trainers and
police officers followed suit. We had entered a small cluster of trees and within it we found a
small camp site. The place where they had built a fire was still smoking. I let out growlithe and
soon we had found their scent. We approached a cave. Growlithe sniffed around and motioned
towards the mouth of the cave.

"Should we wait for the others?" Alexia asked.

"No. This could be a tunnel to the other side of the enclosure. If it is, then we'll lose the trail if
we wait." I said.

We entered the cave with growlithe still hot on their scent. Soon we saw light at the end of the
cave. We exited the cave and saw that we were still inside the Safari Zone. Growlithe started
sniffing around to the left and then to the right.

"Has he lost their scent?" Alexia asked.

"Chu! Raichu!" Raichu motioned towards the left and the right.

"Oh no! They split up!" I said.

Raichu and growlithe nodded.

"So what do we do?" Alexia asked.

"You go left with growlithe. Raichu can follow a scent pretty good." I said.

Growlithe and Alexia took off to the left while raichu and I went right. We followed the path for
a few minutes until we came to another collection of trees. We slowed our pace and looked
around carefully. Something fell out of a tree in front of us and bolted away from us. Raichu and
I gave chase. Soon we were in a clearing and we could see Kirby running from us. He held a
shiny object in his hand. I paid it no mind and ran forward. Raichu sped up and released an
electric attack at Kirby. Kirby fell over but quickly got to his feet and pointed the object at us. It
took my mind a moment to register that he was holding a gun. I stopped at least six feet from
him. Raichu had stopped next to me.

"You're not gonna get us this time kid." He said.

"Put the gun down!" I said.

"Raichu!" Raichu said.

"Hah! Make one move and I'll shoot!" He said.

Suddenly a growlithe came out of nowhere and slammed into Kirby's back. Raichu jumped up at
me and I fell over. I heard a shot. I looked around and saw the growlithe holding Kirby down as
Officer Jenny came over and pointed her gun at Kirby.

"We got him." I said.

Raichu didn't respond. I tried to shake him but he was totally limp. I sat up and examined him. I
moved my hand over his back and it came back bloody. I looked and saw a wound on raichu's
back. I don't remember anything that I had said or did at that point. But I do remember finding
myself in the Fuchsia pokemon center sometime later. My eyes were wet but I don't remember
crying. Alexia sat next to me with her arm around me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Raichu took a bullet for you. Remember?" Alexia said.

"Is he alright?" I asked.

"He's in surgery right now." Alexia said. "We got Lilly and Kirby. There's a trial pending. We
have to go and testify."

"It almost seems like a bad dream." I said.

Nurse Joy came out of surgery. I stood up.

"He'll be just fine. He's a real tough one." She said with a smile. "A few days of rest and he'll
be as good as new."

I was overwhelmed with relief. My knees totally gave way and I collapsed back into the chair I
was sitting in. I found myself crying. Raichu was gonna be okay. I was so happy. After a
moment we all sat in silence while I gathered myself. I stood up again.

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"Of course." Nurse Joy said.

She led me to a room. Raichu was in a hospital bed. A tube was in his nose and an IV was in his
left arm. He woke up as I walked in.

"Chuuuu." He said weakly.

I sat down next to the bed. Alexia sat next to me. Her raichu hopped onto the bed.

"We got him raichu." That was all I could think of saying.

I wanted to say so much more but raichu seemed to know exactly what was on my mind. Nurse
Joy left the room. Alexia put a hand on my shoulder. We all sat in silence for a long time. The
next day, Nurse Joy had raichu transported to the pokemon center in Lavender. I stayed with him
until he got better. Once he had gotten all the rest he needed he was up and walking again.
Nurse Joy told us to take it easy for at least a week. I'm not one to go against a doctor's orders
so raichu and I took it quite easy for a week. But soon after the week was over we were out
battling again. The trial soon came and we had to testify. I won't go into the details of the trial
as they are quite boring. Lilly and Kirby got sentenced to life in prison in some maximum security
prison in Louisiana. Life got a lot easier with those two out of our way. Yes. Life got a whole
lot easier.